


The Phonecall

by PaellaIsComplicated



Series: Burt and His Boys [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 02:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10800024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaellaIsComplicated/pseuds/PaellaIsComplicated
Summary: Just before the start of Season 6. Burt just found out that Blaine is back in Ohio, and calls Kurt to find out why.





	The Phonecall

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wondering about this for a long time. How did Burt react to Kurt's stupidity? When did Kurt tell Burt? And then what? Today I just had to write it down. So here you go.

Burt hadn’t been this worried since Kurt was in the hospital. He didn’t even usually click on emails from Dalton. Kurt had been there for such a short time, and usually they were just asking for money anyway. But this one was about the Warblers, so he clicked. And saw that Blaine had moved back to Lima.

How was it possible that his son’s fiance had moved back to Lima and neither of them told him? Burt racked his brain, trying to think of a good reason, but he could only come up with two scenarios. Either his son was a complete idiot, or his son was in the most pain of his life and hadn’t reached out. Or worst of all, both.

Burt sighed and picked up the phone. He’d have to hear it from Kurt himself, or he’d never know. And if his boys needed him, he’d be there, no matter how stupid they were being.

“Hi, dad,” Kurt answered. He sounded like he always did. Not as young as he used to.

“Hey, Kurt,” Burt greeted. “Where are you?”

“At NYADA,” Kurt replied. 

“Oh, are you with someone?” Burt asked. “I don’t want to bother you if you’re working.”

“No,” Kurt said. “I’m in a practice room. I have some singing homework to practice, but I can talk first.”

“Good,” Burt replied. And suddenly, Burt felt himself flood with anger. “Then you can tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Going on?” Kurt asked. His voice was careful, like he knew exactly what Burt was talking about, but wouldn’t be the one to get himself in trouble.

“Tell me why Blaine is in Lima in the middle of the semester. Why he’s got a job in Westerville, and nobody told me.”

Kurt mumbled, faltered. “He, uh...He failed out.” Kurt said in a small voice.

“Failed out?” Burt repeated, taking some breaths so he could think. “I’m going to skip right past the part where the valedictorian of his senior class and star of two show choirs failed out of musical theater school, and I’m just gonna ask my son why he let his fiance come back to Lima by himself.”

“Um, he’s not,” Kurt said, his voice even smaller.

“Not what, son? Because he’s definitely in Lima, and you just told me you’re in New York.”

“He’s not my fiance anymore,” Kurt said finally. Burt’s heart felt like it would explode. This was what he had feared. The worst had happened, and Kurt hadn’t told him.

“Did he cheat on you again?” Burt stormed. “Because I swore I’d stay out of your relationship but if he did that to you again--”

“No, dad,” Kurt hurried to correct him. At least that. “He didn’t do anything like that. It’s just, it got hard.”

“It got hard,” Burt repeated, disbelieving.

“We were fighting. A lot. About...towels?” Kurt finished lamely.

“Towels.”

“Yes?” Kurt responded.

“You’re telling me that you broke up with that boy over towels?”

“Well, not because of towels,” Kurt corrected.

Burt couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His son was an entitled idiot. He didn’t understand what he had. Why couldn’t Kurt see what was so obvious to anyone who looked at him?

“This is Blaine we’re talking about?”

“Yeah?”

“Blaine Anderson? The same Blaine you’ve been in love with since you were sixteen?”

“It’s not that, dad, I--”

“The same Blaine who waited a year for you to forgive him?”

“I know, dad, but--”

“The Blaine who I found asleep in your hospital bed when I got to New York after you’d been beaten? That Blaine?” Burt knew it was a low blow. Kurt probably hadn’t even known about that. But that was the moment, walking into his son’s hospital room in a panic, seeing him in one piece and breathing, and then, after collecting himself, noticing Blaine wrapped around Kurt like he would single-handedly protect Kurt from anything bad in the world. Like he could stop something like this from happening again. Knowing that his son was loved like that had been the thing that allowed Burt to go on with life when Kurt was so far away. 

“He did that?” Kurt asked, his voice tiny. Burt heard the tears start. “Dad I--we didn’t know. We didn’t understand how hard it would be, once Rachel left, and Sam. We just, we didn’t have our best friends, and I was working all the time, and Blaine was alone. I think he was alone a lot. I mean, his showcase was over and June moved on to other things and he was back to being just another freshman, you know? And we always thought it was going to be so good. Finally, we were together, like we always wanted, and--it just wasn’t.”

“Oh, son,” Burt sighed. “I tried to tell you. That’s how it is. That’s just how life is, when you share it with someone.”

“And I just, we were fighting, and I-- I don’t even know, all of a sudden we were broken up and he was so angry. Like, the whole time we were broken up before, he was never angry at me, he was always so patient, but this time he was so angry and he said he’d never forgive me, and he was gone. His stuff was gone by the time I got home and I saw him at school sometimes but he wouldn’t even look at me and so I just concentrated on working. On my schoolwork and Vogue.com and the diner and then one day I heard that Blaine failed out and left.”

“How long has it been, son?” It was starting to sink in, what Kurt was saying. The breakup wasn’t recent, even. This was the fear, as a parent of an adult. That the worst would happen, and you wouldn’t even know. His son’s heart had been broken, and Burt had had no idea. 

“I’m sorry dad. I didn’t know how to tell you. I know how much you love Blaine and I didn’t--I just didn’t know what to say.”

“How long?” Burt had to know. He felt like the worst father. Never mind that Kurt was only hurting because of his own stupidity, he’d been hurting and Burt hadn’t been there for him.

“Um...since the beginning of the summer?” The silence was long. Burt felt the anger wrestling with the guilt and didn’t want to speak until he had more control. 

“What does Rachel say about it?” Burt asked finally.

“Well, nobody’s heard from Rachel since her show aired,” Kurt said. So Kurt was alone. Completely alone and dealing with this by himself.

“Kurt, you should come home,” Burt said.

“No, dad,” Kurt said. “I’m okay. I’m moving on.”

“You’re telling me you’re working. Your best friend isn’t there. You didn’t talk to me or Carole. You should come home and fix this,” Burt argued. Burt never told Kurt what to do like that. Especially not when it came to relationships. Even when things had been so wrong with Blaine before, Burt never said anything. He bought Blaine a plane ticket to New York, but he didn’t argue. 

“I,” Kurt hesitated, but he knew he had to tell Burt. “I’m going to a mixer tonight, dad.”

“A mixer,” Burt repeated.

“To meet guys,” Kurt explained. “It’s called speed dating.”

“Speed dating,” Burt had become a parrot. 

“Yes,” Kurt said. “I’ll meet someone new, so I can move on.”

Burt didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Kurt seemed to be under the impression that it was easy to fall in love a second time. Burt knew it was possible, lord knew Burt was thankful for that every day. But nothing about love was easy, and the notion that Kurt would just fall in love again and forget about Blaine was preposterous. 

But Burt also knew how stubborn Kurt could be, and he knew kids needed to make their own mistakes. He had waited for Kurt to come out to him, he could wait for Kurt to get his head out of his ass about Blaine. 

“You think that will make you happy, son?” Burt finally asked.

“Yeah. I’m okay, dad,” Kurt lied. 

“Then be safe, and let me know how it goes.”

What else could Burt do? 

“I will, dad. Goodnight. I love you,” Kurt said hopefully.

“Love you too, buddy,” Burt replied. It was the one thing he was still sure of in this conversation. “No matter what.”


End file.
